Disappointing
coming from a Republican US Senator who just so happened to get elected to a seat once held by not only the current President of the United States but also the first Black woman elected to that presitigious body. Not only that he
toured Englewood almost two years back:
The comment, with its racial undertones, came during a sit-down interview with the Peoria Journal Star and followed a question about how to encourage business development in Kirk's home state.
“I want to make sure we have elected people constantly looking at
helping the African-American community,” Kirk said. “With this state and
all of its resources, we could sponsor a whole new class of potential
innovators like George Washington Carver and eventually have a class of
African-American billionaires. That would really adjust income
differentials and make the diversity and outcome of the state much
better so that the black community is not the one we drive faster through." [emphasis added.]
The notion that people hit the gas when driving through black
neighborhoods is a common racial stereotype about urbanization and
criminal behavior among African-Americans. The fact that an elected
senator from a state with a sizable black population would make such a
comment was deemed unfortunate by at least one African-American leader
in Illinois.
"I think what he was trying to say is, he was trying
to relate that to crime. But boy, it was a poor choice of phraseology,"
said George Mitchell, president of the NAACP's Illinois State
Conference.
Later a response from Sen. Kirk's office was added to this article:
Eleni Demertzis, Kirk's press secretary, emailed the following
response to questions about the senator's comments from last week: "Anyone
watching network news in Chicago is aware of the frequent killings and
violence that affects various communities in Illinois. Senator Kirk is
active in fighting gang violence, keeping assault weapons off the
streets, and working within the African-American community to find
aspiring entrepreneurs. No one can question Senator Kirk’s commitment to
the African-American community."
What are your thoughts?
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